In the processing of poultry, the usable parts (heart, liver and sometimes lungs) of the vascular system must be removed from the viscera and appropriately cleaned before being used. Typically, only the heart and liver are considered suitable for human consumption. In the past, the separation of the edible vascular parts has been primarily a manual operation which was performed after the viscera was mechanically removed from the interior of the poultry carcass but still attached to the carcass and before the mechanical gizzard processing operation. Thus, there is a need to mechanically process the vascular package still attached to the viscera after the mechanical eviscerating operation.